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The Conference Room is located just ahead of the battle bridge. Its walls are actually rather thick and well-insulated from the noise of the rest of the ship. Occasionally there's a slight vibration, but overall, it's peaceful. It feels almost serene. Moreover, since the crash landing, someone went through and set all the chairs back up in their proper order and position. There's enough places at this long, tastefully-carved mahogany table for up to twenty or so people - perfect for peace talks, briefings, or just chatting it up after hours. There's even a picture of SCAMPS in all his electrobiological glory hanging up on the wall - even though the paper appears to be torn.

You'd heard rumors back in the cells of Tartarus, however many years ago it was, that the briefing rooms aboard their titular ship were glorious, and fit to banquet kings. This is considerably less flashy - possibly because, after all, the Nemesis is a warship. There are no fancy trays of food. There is no lounge and bar with alcohol, or smooth jazz music playing in the background. There is a table, and there are chairs. There aren't even windows.

The rest of the Nemesis Ten are already seated at the long, rectangular table in the center of the room, and you realize you should join them. You walk over to the table and take a place in an empty seat, just as the lights dim, and a screen at the far side of the room lights up.

MISSION 1 BRIEFING

SCAMPS here. Let's run through the typical newbie crap to start with: I don't give a damn about who you are, what you did, or what you think you know how to do. My job right now is to teach you what we need to survive. With that in mind, I'm going to start off with a major breach of protocol: revealing Tartarus's best-kept secret. Our Acting Captain protested this, but I think it'll be beneficial for you titsuckers to see just how bad things are. Maybe you'll pull less of the retarded shit most first-timers do.

Tartarus Incorporated, ladies and gentlemen, is a company that incarcerates criminals... and one that is also run by criminals. We tell the greenhorns they'll go free after the "Big One-Oh", but that's a bedtime story. After the tenth, we stick some probes in your head and analyze whatever's there. The crazy ones get spaced, while the rest get some mental conditioning to keep the company's secrets, and a choice. Some of you get shipped back home under a new alias. Most, though, sign on for a permanent job with Tartarus. We pay well, and the rest of us are criminals too. Anyone that learns this secret early typically gets a surprise execution, but right now, we need cooperation. We can't afford segregation. You'll eat with the crew, you'll work with the crew, and you'll sleep with the crew. Hopefully Tartarus won't kill you or something when we get back, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Welcome to your new life, shitbags. I hope I don't come to regret this as much as you will.

Now, on to business. I'm glad all of you could make it - that's a few more corpses I won't have to ditch yet.

In case you weren't paying attention, it's the year 3152, and the galaxy is just as toxic as it ever was. We're out beyond the edge of humanity's domain on a covert operation. Nobody except up-top even knows we're here. There's no hope of rescue. Our battlecruiser got shot down over Nanyej yesterday, which is alien-speak for "backwoods shithole nobody's ever heard of". Someone overrode our shields, and our starboard nacelle came off during atmospheric entry. I won't mince words: It's sabotage. Our engines are shot for now, but our engineers are giving it their all. In the meantime, we're faced with a bigger issue: The Nemesis does not - nor did it ever - have the power to leave a planet's surface. As if that wasn't bad enough, there's a military base nearby, and we expect to see some overwhelming firepower coming from that direction in short order.

In summary, we're in deep shit and short on time. Fortunately, we have a plan, which I'll walk you through. First, a map of the surrounding area.

((Map scale: 20km across))

The pitifully small "X" on the left side of the map? That's us. Up northeast at the "Z" is the hiltorel colony of Huhoba Qitsit. The nacelle crash-landed south of that at the "Y" - unexpectedly intact, thanks to the hiltorel. At this point, those few of you that graduated preschool ought to have realized that we're on a planet with near-Earth gravity, which hiltorel can't handle. This is where our plan comes together.

The only way the hiltorel could live here is if they're using grav-tech - anomalous materials. Specifically, AM-0025, better known to you highschool dropouts as "stellaplex". Our engineers have rigged up a temporary grav-gen system to make the Nemesis - yes, the whole ship - lightweight enough to take off and reach escape velocity, but we can't do it without Huhoba's stellaplex. This is the primary objective: steal it and get back home. Five of your CASKETs will be equipped with harnesses and gear with which you can rip open their reactor, pull it out, and attach it to a CASKET. Pissing yourself is optional but not recommended. Our veteran REKT squads will back you up, led by Sergeant Anabais. Half of them will be heading out to attack Huhoba's meager spaceport as a distraction to draw their defensive fire.

I'm not deaf, by the way. I do in fact hear your idiotic sighs of relief. "Oh, thank FSM! An easy first mission! This isn't nearly as bad as I thought!" Tough luck, kiddos, there's more to it than that. I'll be splitting you into two squads: Alpha and Beta. You can divide yourselves up, but we have to hit both objectives at the same time. When the squids spot you, they'll realize that we in fact have more than ten functional fighters, and they'll ignore Anabais's diversion to wipe out Squad Alpha before they can acquire the stellaplex.

Beta will head east toward our old nacelle. We expect the hiltorel sent up ships equipped with harpoons to slow its descent. The desperate calamari bastards are probably looking for scraps, and they've almost certainly raided it by now. We would've left it alone, but our engineers suggested a plan to recover it. Acting Captain Retard made it an order, so now we're bringing it with us. Squad Beta will be equipped with a set of large hooks you'll affix firmly to the inner hull, spaced well apart, right where the nacelle was ripped from the Nemesis. Get the scavengers to scram, and get to work. We'll have the Nemesis pick it up when we leave. And, finally, as a side objective: we need a local to interrogate so we can feel out the political situation in the area. Try to get one home unharmed.

Sort yourselves out and get down to the hangar within thirty minutes, or we'll string you to the hull.
The lights brighten again to a comfortable glow. The screen at the end of the room still holds SCAMPS' last image, and the holocomputers in the center of the table hold several 3D models of the Nemesis, the nacelle, and the hiltorel colony.

The job begins.

Last edited by Talvieno on Wed Nov 29, 2017 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:filled in forgotten detail

Shift the broom in my hands.
"Alьfa."Point at Buck.
"Also Alьfa."
"Do we get tasers. To capture local? Or must we use the rifle stocks and punching to subdue enemy?"Lean over to Buck.
"Can you hack screen-asshole?"

Last edited by Triggerhappy on Tue Nov 14, 2017 12:38 am, edited 2 times in total.

I sit there for a moment. This mission sounds like an overly-difficult way to commit suicide. However, it is our only option... Dear FSM, this is gonna suck. I'm going to want to be part of Squad Beta (for a given value of "want," of course,) since I'm pretty sure that "Acting Captain Retard," as SCAMPS so politely called him, didn't actually tell anyone else of his little secret mission. Ugh. Of course, this mission would be bad enough even if we were only hitting the nacelle. And they even want a fukcing prisoner! What do we look like, spec-ops?!

I frown slightly, but manage to prevent my emotions from showing further. No need for everyone to know just how suicidal I think this mission, after all.

"I'll be part of Squad Beta. Anyone else want to join me?" I give Frank a look. Sure, the last time we "worked" together we both died horribly, but he was a pretty good partner when he wasn't busy bleeding out on the ground, and he had a good head on his shoulders. He even managed to keep fairly cool, if I remember correctly. Just the kind of guy I'd want at my back.

Hearing my Russian-sounding teammate, I turn to him next. "Those of us with electrorifles and the like have something akin to tasers if we set them properly. Either that or you can get close and maybe dose them with painkillers or something." I grin suddenly. "Or just go for the classic rifle-butt. Squishies probably wouldn't like that too much either!"

Hearing my Russian-sounding teammate, I turn to him next. "Those of us with electrorifles and the like have something akin to tasers if we set them properly. Either that or you can get close and maybe dose them with painkillers or something." I grin suddenly. "Or just go for the classic rifle-butt. Squishies probably wouldn't like that too much either!"

"They seem soft. Would not want to get guts on gun. From too strong a hit. Maybe we can tackle them." Grin. "Unharmed, huh?"

*Booming voice*
"I'll go with alpha squad unless anyone has any objections.
We will likely meet more of our foes at the colony, and they will undoubtedly be dying to meet me!
I'm also the best marksman this side of the galaxy, so I would be invaluable to squad."

Last edited by Hema on Tue Nov 14, 2017 1:51 am, edited 2 times in total.

"I'm not very good at flying combat, so I'm gonna go with beta as well. Bob, you too?
Capturing someone shouldn't be too hard - I can just trap one with a stasis field and then you can easily knock him out."

Shift the broom in my hands.
"Alьfa."Point at Buck.
"Also Alьfa."
"Do we get tasers. To capture local? Or must we use the rifle stocks and punching to subdue enemy?"Lean over to Buck.
"Can you hack screen-asshole?"

Frank, pale-faced and shaking slightly, looks over the other 9 REKT-members.

Caleb, the one who was in the virtual training with him, volunteering for the recovery of the nacelle.
Same with a woman who has some very obvious robotic implants who's asking a literal mountain of a person if they'll tag along.
Some guy grinning, obviously looking forward to a raid of the nearby colony.
The paradoxical assassin, posing and all but yelling out his opinion of himself...

A raid on the colony, clearing the nacelle of looters and securing it again. Abducting someone...

"I-"

Frank coughs lightly, before forcing a (hopefully) confident smile on his face.

"I'll go wi- with Beta then. I don't think I'll be all that useful for a- a full-on assault..."

"SCAMPS, uhm...what kind o- of resistance should the teams expect? I- In terms of weaponry and apparent skill, I mean?"

"I'm not very good at flying combat, so I'm gonna go with beta as well. Bob, you too?
Capturing someone shouldn't be too hard - I can just trap one with a stasis field and then you can easily knock him out."

"A stasis field, huh? Now that sounds useful! The more different ways we have to grabs these guys, the better. Happy to have you guys."

"SCAMPS, uhm...what kind o- of resistance should the teams expect? I- In terms of weaponry and apparent skill, I mean?"

"Huhoba is likely to keep some of their forces patrolling the colony - these will try to fukc up Squad Alpha. They'll be better organized than you, so Alpha should stay on their toes - and should also be ready to face whatever security the hiltorel have in place at the plant. Beta may face a few fighters, but should mostly up against ground forces. Hiltorel have stipulations against scavenging uncharted wrecks, so anyone there is likely to be a deviant, and will viciously defend their claim. If we weren't keeping their military forces busy, you'd be facing them instead."

"A stasis field, huh? Now that sounds useful! The more different ways we have to grabs these guys, the better. Happy to have you guys."

"Yeah it's really neat! It's kinda like a shield generator but the shield is one way and fixed in space so you trap people in a bubble they can't shoot from but you can shoot them. I wonder what they use for it though - normal shield generators use AM-0010 and they don't work like that, and they don't fit in a small amp I think. I never heard about them before I got here..."
I notice I'm rambling.
"Er, yes. Anyway. Thanks. I'm glad I can work with these because I have absolutely no combat experience outside of VR - I'm a scientist, not a soldier or something."